The Florida Gators defeated their Southeastern Conference rivals, the Auburn Tigers, in the Final Four of the 2035 NCAA Tournament on Saturday night, 79-73, to earn a chance to play against the Houston Cougars for the national championship.
Much like the Orange and Blue's previous matchups with the UConn Huskies and Texas Tech Red Raiders, Todd Golden's gang needed a second-half comeback to emerge victorious, battling back after entering the locker room at halftime down by eight. Once again, destiny smiled on the Gators and guided them to their second triumph over the Tigers this year.
Following the game, an ecstatic Golden spoke with the sports media bout his team's performance and what it is like to walk onto the biggest stage in college basketball. Below is a look at his takes from the latest chapter of March Madness.
Todd Golden's opening statement
"Just so, so proud of my team, my players, my staff. Just done an incredible job all year with their preparation and approach on a daily basis. Obviously a great accomplishment for our program to make it here to the Final Four. But the heart and just toughness both physically, mentally that these guys showed today was incredible. Credit Auburn.
"Obviously an incredible team, one of the best college basketball teams in the past couple decades. You all know how much I love Bruce and Steven and their program. With that being said, I'm incredibly proud of these guys for getting this win. We're alive, man. We're playing for this national championship on Monday night."
Was tonight a testament to the unflappability of this group?
"Yeah, to answer your question, in short form, it's 100%. Great example of that. I thought Auburn played great in the first half. We did some nice things, but we did not have an answer for their physicality in the paint. They were 13 of 18 from two.
"The way our game plan, we weren't executing it very well and it wasn't working very well. We get to halftime, Tommy was right, Coach Hartman tried to get us going a little bit. The main message at halftime was we have to get back to doing what we do and executing in a positive way.
"We scored right out of halftime. I think we got a stop, got the ball back, hit a three to make it 9. From that point forward I thought we did a good job ever getting back to ourselves. Our bigs did a great job in the second half defending and rebounding. We ended up plus-11 on the glass, plus-9. We were down 1 at halftime. We did a great job of guarding Johni one-on-one in the second half. I think he was 1-4 from the field.
"We started getting out in transition a little bit, saw the ball go through the basket, started gaining some confidence. We obviously played a really, really good second half. I think it starts with our perimeter. Walt, Will and Alijah, senior leaders, guys that have been through the fire a little bit before.
"Great players with really, really a high level of confidence. They just kind of breathe it into the rest of the team. The younger guys like Rueb and Condo and Tommy, Zel, they have no choice but to play with incredible intensity and urgency because of the tone that our perimeter sets."
On first five minutes of second half
"We were able to turn up our pressure a little bit defensively. Got them on their heels offensively. We started just guarding more physically in the paint, making it harder for them to put us in the basket. Got some clean rebounds out in transition. They ...
